Tag Archives: Lauren Oliver

Post navigation

This week The Broke and The Bookish have asked for our Top Ten Best/Worst Series Enders. When we have a choice like that I like to put some from both and this week is no different. I think sometimes I might over read the topics because for this week I considered that you could have favourite or worst ends in terms of what actually happened but also just having a good or bad last book, I’ve gone the second option because its the way its written that makes what happens good in the end and it also made writing my list a lot easier.

The Broke and The Bookish‘s topic for this week is out Top Ten Best Sequels Ever. There were a few easy choices for me this week but not nearly enough for 10 as I often find the sequels aren’t quite as good but I have managed to pick out 9 (some from the same series) that I thought were particularly good.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver Delirium Trilogy

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games Trilogy

Passion by Lauren Kate Fallen Series

The Lion , The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia

Our topic this week from The Broke and The Bookish is our Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far in 2013. I almost did this topic earlier in the year as a freebie but I say it was coming up so my list was all ready to go.

This week The Broke and The Bookish‘s topic is our Top Ten Books Featuring Travel In Some Way. I didn’t think I was going to find this topic that easy when I first seen it but once I started thinking about it there were quite a few books to choose from. I have cheated a little by adding a few series but these are the ones I enjoy the most. My favourite is the last one on the list but the rest are in no particular order.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

My Synopsis

Lena is about to have to get use to having more than just one person from her past back into her life. Both of whom she has loved and is struggling to deal with her feelings towards them now. But that isn’t the only thing going on around her she needs to deal with. In the towns and cities the resistance is getting stronger and the governments are trying harder to clamp down. Lena and her group have to make a decision about where they want to go and what they want to do but it isn’t going to be easy and there is more discoveries and pain still to come.

Back in the city however Lena isn’t the only one struggling to make a decision about her future. As the days count down to Hana’s marriage to the mayor she starts having dreams and visions that the cure should have taken away. She can’t help feeling guilty about Lena and her family and she begins to discover things are not at all as perfect as she expected. Then suddenly she has a chance to make things up to Lena, but can she take it?

Review

I wasn’t sure where she was going to take this story. For me although there is the dystopian world and Lena disagrees with it I never really seen her as becoming a main part of the resistance, the story was about her discovery of love and freedom. I think that the series did finished off how I was expecting to although that doesn’t make it the most exciting of endings.

I was pleasantly surprised by the introduction of Hana’s point of view in this book. Having read the short story about her previously it was good to hear from her again and I also found it worth while to be able to understand what was going on inside the cities and towns still. It also kept the Hana we met in the first book alive. It would have been too easy to have let her be cured and forgotten about but she still had more to give to Lena.

For me this book wasn’t as good as the second but still better than the first. There was lots of action going on, people where making discoveries and relationships built and changed. I didn’t feel like the story built well enough to its conclusion, it felt a little last minute but I did like that the end was not only about the love of the characters but about how everyone should have choice and freedom.

The second book in this series is a lot better than the first one in my opinion. I feel there is a much stronger plot to the story and the characters have stronger personalities. I also prefer the way it is written. The chapter alternate between Lena’s experiences when she initially enters the wilds and a few years down the line and this give the story an extra boost to keep you turning pages. I think that what also appeals to me in this one is you really start to get into the active rebellion that dystopian fiction is just now and it’s that feeling of being part of fighting for the right thing that makes the book engaging.

I’m not sure what it is about this book but for me it just lacks a bit of energy. I’m quite happy to sit and read it but it doesn’t get my pulse going or my mind racing. I think the idea of love as a disease is a great base for a dystopian novel and although it doesn’t get my mind racing I do find some of the concepts interesting. Maybe it’s because of the books I am enjoying at the moment that I don’t appreciate this as a good book about teenage love and I’m sure for many people this is a really good book. It brings up questions about just how much control the government should and how often they become violent and horrible to uphold their values as well as endangering and de-humanising people.However it is also about the power of love and how although it can be painful it can also bring us alive and allow us to enjoy everything around us.

This weeks topic from The Broke and The Bookish is Top Ten Books I thought I’d like more or less than I did. I don’t think before I started blogging I would have had any on the thought I like less list but now I have more on that list. I think we could have just picked on but I have gone for a bit of both.

Thought I’d Like More

Warm Bodies by Issac Marion I was really excited about this book becuase it seemed like a really original idea but for me there wasn’t enought excitement in it.

The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada Books about the war tend to grab my attention and because I like music I thought this sounded really interesting but I found it lacked the emotional connection.

Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld Dystopian is another thing that makes me pick up a book and I liked the idea of a world obsessed with beauty because it is becoming true but the main character was just totally unlikeable.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver This was another dystopian that I thought had merit in its idea but just didn’t have the drive for me.

The Medusa Project by Sophie McKenzie I love how Sophie Mckenzie writes action books that still feel realistic and I was looking forward to this series but it didn’t like up to her Blood series.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green This one might be a bit contreversial as I know how much people love John Green but for me this story wasn’t what everyone made it out to be I think just because I have read a lot of similar stuff.

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis My disappointment from this book may be because of my age but I felt this book missed a bit of action.

Though I’d Like Less

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book but everyone kept recommending it to me so I gave it a try and it blew me away. Totally original idea and racing plot.

The Black Pear by Alan Porter This was a kindle freebie that I thought I would try as I don’t usually read a lot of scary mystery and it was free so worth it but it turned out to be really interesting.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver After not enjoying the first book in the series as much as I expected I was just reading this to see what happened but the different lay out of the book and more action going on made it really enjoyable.

I have been thinking about review my bookish year on my blog for the past month and came across this lovely survey created by The Perpetual Page-Turner that she has been creating for the past few years. With New Year almost here and this being my first year as I blogger I am going to use it to look back over my year and hopefully relive some great moments. I think overall it’s been a good year and that includes for my reading and blogging.

Best in Books 2012

1. Best Book Read in 2012?There was an option to put these books but genre but I think I do havea favourite book of this year and that’sBeautiful Disasterby Jamie McGuire. I’m not sure why I loved this book because in theory its a girly love story but I just couldn’t put it down.

2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn’t?I was so looking forward to reading Warm Bodies by Issac Marion this summer but sadly I felt like it lacked energy.

3. Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2012?Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver The first book in this series was a bit disappointing so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the second book however it was written slightly differently and it was so much better.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson This book was recommended to me by a friend and since I’ve read it I have told everyone I know who loves reading about it.

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?This question depends on if it is a new series that isn’t finished yet or a whole one you only read this year. I think I’m going to say theDivergentseries by Veronica Roth though as this was the first dystopian I picked up after The Hunger Games and it matched up to it for me.

6.Favourite new author you discovered in 2012?It’s hard to pick a favourite because some authors I read more books of that other’s but I am going to say Jamie McGuire and Patrick Ness

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?The Black Pear by Allan Porter This free kindle book was just something that sounded a bit different and I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was totally different from everything else I have read else I had read and I really enjoyed it.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012? Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson This book has you questioning everyone and their motives in it the whole way through and the end will still surprise you.

9. Book you read in 2012 that you are most likely to re-read next year?Slatedby Teri Terry I feel I didn’t really understand the ending of this book so I am going to re-read it before the next book in the series comes out.

10. Favourite cover of a book you read in 2012?Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

11. Most memorable character of a book you read in 2012? This is also a difficult question I don’t think I can narrow it down to one. Katniss from The Hunger Games of course is one but also Travis from Beautiful Disaster, Link from the Caster Chronicles and Harmony from Bumped.

12. Most beautifully written book you read in 2012?Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein I find this really hard to answer but I have gone for this book because it handled war and the reality of being a prisoner of war really well.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews This was the most intense book I have ever written and there was so many moments in it that till fill me with emotion.

14. Book you can’t believe you waiting until 2012 to finally read?This one is quite easy to answer really there is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness andPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I am finally able to say I have read Jane Austen and I can now count my self as a true book lover.

15. Favourite quote/passage from a book you read in 2012?

“In approved places, every story serves a purpose. But forbidden books are so much more. Some of them are webs; you can feel your way along their threads, but just barely, into strange and dark corners. Some of them are balloons bobbing up through the sky: totally self-contained, and unreachable, but beautiful to watch.And some of them- the best ones- are doors.”

16. Shortest & Longest books you read in 2012?Callum by Malorie Blackman was shortest at only 66 pages and the longest was re-reading Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer at 756 pages.

17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to someone about? This in an interesting question, I think I will have to sayFlowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, it was full of scenes that had my heart pounding and my mind racing.

18. Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2012? I have two answers for this one, my favourite friendship was between Queenie and Maddie from Code Name Verity. My favourite romance however was between Link and Ridley from the Caster Chronicles because it was so dysfunctional yet you could tell they really felt something more for one another.

19. Favourite book from an author you read previously?The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer, I finally got around to reading it and I was surprised to find that I actually really enjoyed it.

20. Best book you read based solely on a recommendation from someone else?The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Ever since I started blogging I have read continuous good reviews about this book so I got it out of the library to give it a shot and I had to agree with all the good comments I had read.

Book Blogging/Reading Life 2012

1. New favourite book blog you discovered in 2012?The Broke and The Bookish is by far my favourite blog of this year because it allowed me to discover lots of other people who blog about books and brought people to my blog.

2. Favourite review that you wrote in 2012?This is really hard to answer as I am still not totally sure what makes a good post but I think my review of Flowers in the Attic is good because I had so much emotion still in me from reading it when I wrote it.

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?I didn’t have many discussions on my blog, just comments that I replied to. hopefully next year I can change that.

4. Most thought provoking review or discussion you read on someone else blog?Jacket Musings: Gemma Malley by Words and Pieces I really liked this post cause it brought about the fact that books are judged by their covers.

6. Best moment of book blogging 2012?Because this is my first year of blogging my favourite part has been getting comments, every one I get excites me still.

7. Most popular post this year on your blog?I have picked the post for most popular based on comments so with 10 comments by top post was Top Ten Tuesday – Freebie – Top Ten Classics I Want To Read.

8. Post you wished got a little more love? I think this one has to be my movie review of Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 because the film really surprised me and filled me with excitement I really want to know what other people thought of the film.

10. Did you complete and reading challenges/goals that you had set yourself at the beginning of this year? My only challenge this year was the Goodread’s 2012 Reading Challenge. I had set myself the goal of 75 books and I am currently on book 84.

Looking Ahead

1. One book you didn’t get round to read in 2012 but will be your number 1 priority in 2013?This year I discovered dystopian and picked up Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I haven’t read it yet but I got it as a Christmas present and can’t wait to get started on it.

2. Book you are most anticipating in 2013? Angel Fever by L.A. Weatherly is due out at sometime next year though the date keeps getting moved. I can’t wait to see how this series will end.

3. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging 2013?I have a few challenges for next year but I think what I really want to do is read more classics, I think I will aim for at least 6 as this allows me to do some of the other bookish challenges I have signed up for.